Must be super hard with shaman mobility + any two partners that can half assedly make the other team play defensive.

I'm guessing this is at or below the 1550 bracket?

You obviously didn't watch the Battle.net Tournament. I only watched a bit of it and several times these people avoided a loss per soullink and healing tide totem. Does that mean they're all playing at or below 1550?

They're just the best totems ever in my opinion and thinking about how much they must annoy non Shamans always makes me happy.

The core design of Shamans has more to do with your success than the proper utilization of your cooldowns. (Although, kudos - 11 wins in a row isn't easy.)

My main is a Resto Druid, so my healing is actually countered by Resto Shamans because of Purge and Wind Shear (Shamans actually counter all healers in this way but Druids are especially countered because of their heavy reliance on HoTs). Every GCD (with glyph) Purge removes 2 beneficial spells, so there goes all my non-tree form instant heals and Ironbark. If I hard cast a Regrowth I open myself up to getting silenced/interrupted not only by the DPS but by the healer as well. Wind Shear's silence lasts for 3 seconds on a 12 second CD; the opposing Shaman healer alone can shut down 25% of my healing window with an instant cast.

L2 Lifebloom. Start using your tools instead of crying your getting countered. Yes, purge is strong and it does counter a lot of druids healing, but you have other areas your strong at as well (i.e. retarded CC).

Originally Posted by Psilo

I understand when certain comps counter other comps, but for the already strongest arena healer to harshly counter a different healer means there is a gross imbalance. The only strategy against a Resto Sham that I've found any success with is tunneling him (which is probably why bursty Paladin comps have been the only real threat to Shamans) and that's really not the embodiment of good PvP.

Or use cc, you a fucking druid and you don't cc. Yes, leaving a resto shaman alone and trying to tunnel his partners wont get you anywhere, but that's the same with any healer. You can't just stand there and expect to win games w/o CC and target swaps.

Originally Posted by Psilo

(Sorry this is turning into a rant.) The strong majority of 3v3 comps are 2 DPS and 1 Healer. There are 24 DPS specs and 5 Healing specs, therefore, there should be a more polarized spectrum of overpower/underpowered DPS compared to healers. It should be more difficult to balance DPS representation from season to season for 11 different classes than healer representation from 5, but that hasn't been the case as Shamans have owned the shit out of everything aside from specific Paladin comps for what... over 2 years?

Resto druids weren't in a good spot in cata, but this isn't cata anymore. Resto is really good with caster comps. The game is never going to be 100% balanced. I admit disc and MW need some love, but thats about it.

Originally Posted by Psilo

Yeah, Shamans are getting nerfed now but it is really only Purge that needs to be changed (an 8 second CD would probably be about right) and until it does I don't foresee Shamans from remaining the overwhelming dominating spec in 3's.

Shamans have already been nerfed. Any comp with a silence + stun should be able to counter shaman now. Because baddies at 1500 can't kill totems should t be more reason to nerf shaman.

Originally Posted by Psilo

In an ideal world, if every class has 1 DPS spec good for Arena, that means roughly 16 (11 DPS and 5 healing) specs should make an appearance at tournaments meaning 100% / 16 = 6.25% representation for each spec. If we go with a conservative estimate and say that Resto Shamans make up 75% of tournament competing comps, that means 75% * (1/3 specs on a team) = about 25% spec representation.

That's 4 times the representation of what a spec should be and it has been that way for years. If that isn't the most imbalanced thing of anything anywhere anytime in the past 2 years of WoW, I'd like to see somebody show me what is.

Last I checked holy paly/resto druids/resto shaman were about even in representation at 2200+.

I admit resto shamans are strong atm and healing in general is strong right now. I'm fine if they tone healing down, but holy paladins and resto druids need nerfs as well then.

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OT: Gratz 11 wins isn't easy, but wait until you fight people who actually kill your totems or blanket silence you so you can't drop them.

Yeah, Shamans are getting nerfed now but it is really only Purge that needs to be changed (an 8 second CD would probably be about right) and until it does I don't foresee Shamans from remaining the overwhelming dominating spec in 3's.

I played an elemental shaman and foresee a nerf to purge whether its the ability itself or the glyph. But I'm not sure it's the heart of the problem. I could be mistaken but as far as I know all specs of Shaman have had purge even before resto shamans became a 'problem'. In which case, purge being nerfed, which I think is too strong with the glyph, isn't going to solve anything. My apologies if I'm mistaken, I'm not trying to make stuff up to prove a point. Also, as far as I know Resto Shamans are not the only healer that has an offensive dispel. The developers apparently are continuing to work on healing priests to make them stronger, they have dispel magic, along with shadow. So if resto shaman rep is brought down while disc rep is brought up, you're in the same boat, in terms of counters to your spec.

I think we should look at representation, not just in terms of numbers but the reason behind those numbers. Look at what specs those resto shamans were playing with and against. There's more than one spec that is over represented. Looking outside of the Tournament, arms warriors, frost mages, resto shamans, and holy paladins are all overrepresented. Since you're looking for imbalance, frost mages have long been overrepresented. On the flip side, in the past warlocks had lower representation but could be found in one of the most popular comps. The point being, I don't think we should look at representation in a vacuum. Yes, I think it's a good indication that there could be an issue but I think we should look beyond the numbers. Sometimes its not rep, its synnergy.

These words in my mouth... where did they come from? I don't think I'm the one that put them there...

You obviously didn't watch the Battle.net Tournament. I only watched a bit of it and several times these people avoided a loss per soullink and healing tide totem. Does that mean they're all playing at or below 1550?

They're just the best totems ever in my opinion and thinking about how much they must annoy non Shamans always makes me happy.

You pop a COOLDOWN to avoid a DEATH in ARENA?

Wow, you don't say. Must be the first tournament you've ever seen if you think throwing down a major CD totem is considered masterful gameplay instead of a core basic skill.

Must be super hard with shaman mobility + any two partners that can half assedly make the other team play defensive.

I'm guessing this is at or below the 1550 bracket?

What does mobility have to do with anything when enhancement and elemental have the same mobility tools but don't enjoy similar 'dominance' in arena?

Originally Posted by Zues

You pop a COOLDOWN to avoid a DEATH in ARENA?

Wow, you don't say. Must be the first tournament you've ever seen if you think throwing down a major CD totem is considered masterful gameplay instead of a core basic skill.

I'm not even sure what this means since the person never said anything about 'masterful gameplay'; unless you were just trying to be deliberately provocative with your sarcastic tone. If that's the case, congratulations. Are 'masterful gameplay' and 'core basic skill' exclusive of one another? Is reaction and timing not important in pvp? Feel free, or not, to explain.

These words in my mouth... where did they come from? I don't think I'm the one that put them there...